She is an Angel. Of all the Books out even by the 4 members hers is INCREDIBLE. Even Kisstory fails in comparison. She kept so much history. Her book is the Best by FAR. Beautiful woman. The most visual history there ever will be. If you haven't read it. Get it.
Lydia flew out to San Francisco to see our KISS tribute band back in '95 since we had become friends in '92.... Two things I will never forget that happened - she hugged our Peter after he sang Beth onstage and we were running outta time.. So I asked the crowd. "Rock And Roll All Nite or Watchin' You?" Everyone wanted to hear R n R All Nite.... Then Lydia screams out after everyone, "Screw that! Play Watchin' You!" Hahahaha!!!! Needless to say we had it up playing her request! I loved your interview... Glad you did this with her :)
Coming from an Italian Irish family in New York, I dig her accent and the way she tells the story straight. Reminds me of my own family and it's such a joy to hear such a down to earth woman like Lydia tell things the way they were. God bless her and I am so proud of her success in life after Kiss 👍
I got to hang out with Lydia for a full night about a year ago and she is a wonderful woman. She told me she still loves Peter and always will. Its been a year since we hung out but she still took the time to tell me happy birthday last week. I saw Peter afterwards and told him she still loved him and he kind of rolled his eyes. Gigi was pretty, nice and polite, but Lydia is a great woman who appreciated Peter despite his healthy ego (don't get me wrong - Peter is my idol but he has been famous a long time). Buy her book "Sealed With a Kiss" - the most believable of all of the autobiographies and has the best pictures since Kisstory.
If Peter Criss would have stayed with this gal, he would have been a much wealthier and happier man now.... and probably would have still have been Touring with KISS today. He made lots of bad decisions throughout the years. Lydia is Gorgeous, Smart, and Classy. A great Video! Thanks for sharing Phil.
thats what cocaine does to you. also i read in his book from all the women he was having sex with lydia could not peform aswell as they did. with debra he even said he loved lydia but his dick loved debra
Met this beautiful lady in Atlanta at a kiss convention in the mid 90s! It was so crazy sat at bar and talked to her and bill! They were so nice! Her book is the best I’ve read!
Very smart and charming. I can't imagine the behind the scenes stories she could tell. To experience a day in the life of KISS back then must'a been cool. I'd love to hear her stories.
Oh...my...God. I think I've just found my FAVORITE RU-vid video! Phil, I love you, man! You remind me of my late father-in-law, may he rest in peace. Lydia, you remind me of my wife's favorite aunt, who is alive and well in Long Island. Happy 2017 to you both!
Lydia Criss did everything for Peter. She supported both of them while he went from band to band. He said in his book that Lydia took care of everything, he didn't know a thing about finances and when he got his settlement from KISS his second wife Debra helped him pi$$ through the money. Lydia was a silent member of KISS in the early days; she went to all the gigs while working full time, took professional pictures of them and kept Peter grounded. Everyone liked her. All the family members helped these guys in the early days.
What a sweet and genuine lady. I'd prefer hanging with her at an old Brooklyn dive than any member of KISS. Her book is a must have for any KISS fan. Very well put together.
Thank you to to the guy that got this up and especially thank you Lydia, you are a delight to listen to speak and a very pretty woman. Thanks for the insight on Peter and the band. Be safe
Peter's book is nothing but him whining about every damn thing, and blaming others for his own stupid mistakes. And there are so many lies in it, one can barely keep up with them.
It has a very "woe is me" attitude. He boiled a lot of his personal issues down to simply being Italian. But he was truthful about Ace, Gene & Paul. I can imagine them doing and saying everything he wrote about them down to the body language. "AWK!"
Phil Fiumano and entire 5 pages were on my father and her relationship and said bad things about my father but what the heck it's rock n'roll life with Lydia haha. A GREAT book. Thumbs up!
Phil, you did a great job in the interview!! Nice and relaxed, she seems like a very nice lady, very comfortable with you and great memory!! First concert I ever saw was The first time kiss played the garden!! February 18, 1977, great show!! Anyways, keep up the good work!! I will be looking for more interviews from you!!
I was helping the band shoot all day. I wasn't there to do that, but they have no video equipment I know the band guys there nice guys so by the time I got to interview Lydia, I was so tired I could bare to stand up anymore it could of been better perhaps, by thank you for your kind comments others are very disrespectful but thanks larry your pretty cool people . I got new interview up with Micki Free gene & paul produced him you can check it out . Peace
I really like her and believe her. She has no reason to lie as she walked out with a million dollars in 1979 She was a smart woman who unlike Peter, didn't blow it. .. pun intended. I read Peter's book and believed most of his stories. Lydia threw water over these stories and said that they are wildly exaggerated. Lydia confirmed what Paul said and that is he is a huge whinger and complainer. Lydia claims that his whinging is unbearable. The incident at a restaurant during the mixing of Alive I. Criss wanted that unbearably boring and outright shit drum solo to be included. Roadies claim that Criss actually believed whilst snorting that he was as good as Bonham. Criss said he would leave the band if it wasn't included. Gene and especially Paul knew it wasn't Bonham or Ian Paice from Deep Purple. Gene gave in and they added it into Alive I. NOTE - PETER Criss has won raspberry type awards for that drum solo on Alive I. Its a directionless mess... Peter is an emotional cripple and can't express himself like an adult. Alcohol and cocaine made him unbearable. Peters behaviour throughout the '79 Dynasty tour was outrageous and way, way more extreme than Ace's. Peter does mention his poor behaviour during the' 79 tour and glosses over it and blames Debra Jensen confirming his whinge and whine attitude. Peter cheated on Lydia, but amazingly Sean Delaney helped Lydia "f__k him over" emotionally and financially. Delaney knew Debra Jensen was your garden variety gold-digger. Sean Delaney helped Lydia keep that house she talks about in the interview and a million dollars which was a huge pay day in 1979.
“Peter criss has won raspberry type awards for that drum solo” Source? Because ima have to call bullshit on that one. Eddie Kramer has said time and time again that the only “live” part of alive are Peter’s drums and vocals. And that drum solo is amazing. Fucking no one has complained about it except for idiots like you who buy anything Paul says.
What a sweetheart, so thorough with the dates of what happened, who did what to who. I hope Peter's new wife was worth it, Lydia is a keeper in my eyes.
She sure seems like a very nice lady and she is still quite attractive. I'm sure KISS for her was just the same as it was for Peter. The greatest and the worst thing that ever happened to them all.
I think lydia criss is an amazing lady. I hate that her and Peter didn't make it.it must have been hard to end the relationship, and heart breaking. anyway I would love to get that book sealed with a kiss. when I get the money $ I'm gonna hopefully get it. it's filled with hundreds of photos of the kiss group. to my understanding lydia took all these photos. such an amazing person . anyway good luck to her future. she deserves happiness.
Actually Peter did speak ill of her on the Phil Donahue Show back in the early 90's. When Donahue sarcastically asked Peter if he remembered Lydia, he said something like "I should. She took enough from me."
+Mark Hamilton You´re so right, Mark! Lydia is a diamond! To say the least. A truly classy Italian Lady with a big heart & a deep soul for KISS of the 1970´s. She was right there from the very beginning in 1972 & even before that. Her memory is very impressive, very detailed & everything is in precise order. I met her in Sweden 2009 (I´m Swedish) talking to her for hours. That was Lydia´s first revisit to Sweden since May 1976 when KISS toured Europe for the very first time. Bill Aucoin & Sean Delaney had her (with a very short notice) flown in from New York City to Gothenburg, Sweden (via Copenhagen, Denmark) on May 25, 1976 after Peter went bananas, the day before, in Offenbach, Germany for some reason. Peter threatened to leave the tour and also jump out the window of his Offenbach hotel room. Lydia & I talked about everything as she was selling & signing her book (I stood right next to her all the time) She took a copy of her book and paged through it. She told me hilarious & interesting stories as she randomly pointed out different pictures. It was like......"This is me & Peter at.....bla, bla, bla" or "You see this picture with Peter in his purple velvet jacket?.....my mom & I made that for Peter for his birthday in 1973....bla, bla, bla" Once again; Lydia´s memory = mind boggling! She was so lovely & so sweet to everybody who came up to her. The coolest thing that day was this spanish guy! He had driven up to Sweden all the way on the E4 (main highway through Europe) from Valencia, Spain........ just to meet with Lydia, buy her book, get her autograph, hug her, give her multiple kisses on her cheeks & just tell her how much he loved KISS, Peter Criss & Lydia. All this dramatic scenery in front of his own wife & his own, very cute, daughters. But they seemed to love it all. At least they were smiling & seemed to have a good time. Then they turned & went back to their car and headed back, all the way, to Valencia, Spain. I could see in Lydia´s eyes she was very moved & touched by this. So was I. KISS fans are just crazy, plain & simple, right Mark? Finally, the thing I really love most about Lydia Criss is her amazing, and sometimes, thick, Brooklyn accent. I just love her Brooklyn pronunciation when she refers to the KISS album "Destroyer". Her way to pronounce "Destroyer" is priceless! Words like "Destroyer", "Leather", "Later", "far", "star", "hard", "there", "divorced", "Loft", "logo", "solo", "dog", "along", "Aucoin" & "September" etc. are all badass! I´ll probably, as a Swede, have a very hard time to impersonate her. For starters, I´m a man & secondly, my European accent won´t help me out. It´s gonna take me a long time to blend in, verbally, in places like Canarsie, Bay Ridge or Park Slope. HA! HA! That I can tell ya! Do you have any comment on this Mark? Take Care & Good Luck! Greetings from STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
+Mr. Blackwell I agree with your conclusion(s). lol Meeting Lydia was surreal after being a KISS fan for so many years. She was very sweet and caring of all of the fans. I met her in Miami last year before going on KISS Kruise IV. I love her accent too. The first time I saw her was in a photograph of her and Peter together on a plane going to Japan or returning (not sure which), anyhow I thought she was beautiful then, and I think she is beautiful now. She has a great personality and is very patient with us fans. While in Miami I had the good fortune of meeting up with her several times over a 24 hour period. My cousin and I had our picture taken with her, and that photo is framed and hanging on the wall of my music room. Her book is incredible. I read most of it before returning home, and have picked it up several more times since then just to look at the awesome pics. Every die hard fan should have this book. It's not just about her and Peter. There are many cool stories referencing Peter Frampton and other rockers like the guys in ANGEL. Greetings to you from the great state of Ohio.
Wow! If you want the lowdown on KISS' early days, apparently you go to this woman. Great memory for detail and probably more honest than the band members.
I, along with a few friends, met her at her Greenwich home way back around late 70s. She was having a sale getting rid of a lot of KISS paraphernalia. To me she was just as much a celebrity as the guys in the band that I stuttered, stammered, and trembled, every time I'd ask questions about Peter or the other guys.
Mrs Lydia Dilanardo, became Lydia crisscola!Did she hang out at the 23rd street loft?Bob kulick auditioned for kiss prior to ace.Are the Sean Delaney masters of his albums within reach?Casablanca put some product of his out.Ace always had that artistic inclination that stood out.Kiss played the Nassau colaseum with Judas Priest on september1st 1979 which might have been his Swan song on the dynasty tour.
Sounds like a very nice human. Let's not forget Pete is a really nice guy. Don't let his past sins take away from the man he is today. They were on of rocks first royal couples.
I got some morons talkin shit calling me names '' that I shouldn't say nothing, or interrupt but i was excited & I am worst that crap HURTS my feelings , i was tired i was helping the band film them playing 4 sets all that day before this .
Lydia Sandra... I was babtized in 1975. I was 6. I like your black clothes. You told me though your favorite color is red. Wear some red!! It flatters you. ✌
